andygoodliff

Book Review: Baptist Theology

Stephen R. Holmes, Baptist Theology (T & T Clark, 2012), 179pp

You wait for one Steve Holmes book, and then two come along. Earlier this year, Holmes published a historical study of the doctrine of the Trinity, this new book is a study of Baptist theology, in the T & T Clark Doing Theology series.

Holmes is well placed to write on Baptist theology, having studied at Spurgeon's College and been involved in a number of different Baptist conversations both internally in England and Wales and latterly in Scotland and also ecumenically with the Church of England. Holmes has also contributed to Baptist theology with particular essays on tradition, missiology, ordination, baptism, the Bible, Christology, the church meeting and ecclesiology.

In a fairly brief study of seven chapters, Holmes surveys the story of Baptist life and theology, Baptist contributions to Christian doctrine (what he calls here 'ecumenical theology'), and Baptist understandings of eccleisology, of liberty, and of mission. The first chapter tells the story of Baptist beginnings and this is one of the best introductions I've read in a while - in terms of length and readability - that is, it tells a fairly complex story with clarity and brevity. The second chapter tells the story of Baptists beginnings in North America, this is arguably even more complex, but as someone who always found it difficult to grasp all the different expressions of Baptist life in America, Holmes makes sense of the developments, drawing attention to key players and key theological choices. The third chapter picks up the story again in the UK and also now in Europe and the rest of the world. Here Holmes again gives a helpful description of how Baptist theology developed in the UK and Europe, although struggles with regard to the rest of the world (aside from Australia), which Holmes says is due in large part to the current lack of published work.

In chapter four Holmes makes the argument that there is not much that is distinctive about Baptist understandings of most Christian doctrine - Baptists agreed with thirty-five of the Thirty Nine Articles of Religion of the Church of England. Baptist theologies of God, the work and person of Christ, of creation and eschatology and of revelation and theological method find themselves mirroring and sometimes contributing to basic content of a broad Protestant theology. Where Baptist theology is distinctive is the subject of the next two chapters on eccleisology and liberty. In the ecclesiology chapter the Baptist emphasis on believer's baptism, the local church, congregational government, interdependence and leadership are all explored here. In the final section on leadership Holmes makes a Baptist argument for the ministry of women on the basis of our practice of communal discernment in, and the authority of, the church meeting, to which we only ask that Baptists of another view take heed. The chapter of liberty introduces the reader to the important characters of Thomas Helwys, Roger Williams, Isaac Backus and their arguments for religious liberty and freedom of conscience. This is followed by a discussion of the work of the influential North American Baptist, E. Y. Mullins at the turn of the 20th century who argued for what he called 'soul competency' (the competency of each individual to relate to God), which ultimately Holmes finds unhelpful (democracy becomes an idol) and misleading (for it is only Christ makes a human competent). 

The final chapter sees Holmes focus on mission and holiness, which includes a section of the place of the child in Baptist thought. Holmes identifies the problems for Baptists not practicing infant baptism, and that as a result, the Baptist approach to children is evangelistic rather than catechetical. In an argument in a short forthcoming book on the child in Baptist thought, I have made the argument, that at the very least, the child who is attached to the church, who grows up in the church, is more akin to a member of the catechumenate, than an object of church's mission, wanting to emphasise that an ecclesial relationship is established in infant presentation. The section on holiness, which explores the Baptist language of 'walking together and watching over', is very good, and deserves to be read by every member of a Baptist church in what membership means.

In the introduction and conclusion Holmes argues that Baptist theology has two central foci: the individual believer and the local church. There is an 'intense individualism' in Baptist theology and practice, to which this reader finds more concerning than Holmes. I suspect that is because I remain closer theologically on this point to Gunton and Zizioulas, than Holmes now does. I am not qualified enough to judge this on the basis of the history of theology, but it does appear to me that to emphasise the individual in our highly individualistic culture is unhelpful and so the theology of the person found in Gunton and Zizioulas makes an important contribution today, but this may reflect that my Baptist-ness is tempered by a greater concern for catholicity. This is not to suggest that Holmes gives in to the culture of the day, because the second central foci, the local church, ensures that any individualism is balanced by the importance of the local church.  

This is an excellent book. Holmes writes with a broad audience in mind and many parts of the book give an important account of Baptist thought, both for the Baptist Christian and for ecumenical friends, who find Baptists a somewhat strange bunch. I have said elsewhere that Baptist theology is currently flourishing - now we just need to get Baptist churches to take some time to be nourished and challenged by it! The book will surely feature on all Baptist college reading lists, to be read alongside Fiddes' Tracks and Traces and Wright's Free Church, Free State.

Happy Birthday Paul Fiddes (from Ed Kaneen)

My experience of Prof Paul S. Fiddes is primarily as Principal of Regent's Park College during my ministerial training. Although there was, rightly, immense pride in the College for all Paul's theological achievements, what has always struck me has been his humanity - his kindness, his compassion, and his grace. In his dealings with us as students, he managed to communicate an enthusiasm for theology and ministry. Or to put it another way, an inspiring enthusiasm for God and his people. The book which combines these for me is Participating in God: A Pastoral Doctrine of the Trinity (DLT, 2000) which seeks to answer so many of the questions which most of us, as ministers, shy away from, but which truly get to the heart of the relationship between God, his people, and his world. One quotation is never enough, but the following seems to me characteristic of Paul as pastor, preacher, reader, and creative theologian, who, out of the reality of life, still finds God through faith.

But I must end with the same word of caution with which I began this chapter. There can be no complete theodicy. There can be no completely rational defence of God in a world of pain. If there could be, it would justify suffering on the one hand, and destroy faith on the other. In argument we may talk of the risk that God took in creation, and the way God shares that risk in suffering. Rational theodicy is thus not divorced from practical theodicy: they are both connected with a suffering that 'befalls' God or 'happens' to God. But it still remains open to decide whether God's creative decision that set all this off is worth the cost.

In Dostoyevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov, one of the characters (Ivan) ask the question: 'Is the whole universe worth the tears of one tortured child?' He has in mind the story of a rich landowner who threw a peasant child to his hunting dogs to be torn apart because the child had thrown a stone and broken a dog's leg. Is it all worth the tears of one child, let alone the millions in Auschwitz? Even if God suffers, is it worth it? Ivan thinks not, and says that he is 'returning his entrance ticket to God with the polite observation that the price was too steep'.

The belief that God suffers with us may help us to say that the making of persons is worth all the tears. But only faith can answer the question, 'is it worth it?' after all reasonable arguments have fallen silent. (pp.186-7)

Ed Kaneen is a Baptist minister, who is currently completing a PhD in New Testament at Durham University, and will become the Tutor in the Biblical Studies at South Wales Baptist College in September 2012.

Happy Birthday Paul Fiddes! 65 today

When it comes to Paul Fiddes this facebook conversation from December 2011 is probably spot on:

The problem with studying at Regent's Park is the repeated realisation "anything you can do, Fiddes has done better"!

(Student Baptist minister)

'That's my whole career in eight words.'

(British Baptist theologian)

'Too true. I've likened it to hacking through the jungle, every so often you reach a clearing and think to yourself that you have made a contribution. Then, just as you are ready to move on you spot an empty wine bottle with a note in the top. You open the note to discover it reads "visited here in 1995 - regards Paul".'

(British Baptist minister)

Paul Fiddes is perhaps what many of us think a theologian should look like. Paul has the same look that Colin Gunton had (beard, no moustache), which perhaps should become the non-conformist theological trademark (come on Steve Holmes, I dare you!). Paul also shares the commitment Colin had to the local church and their wider bodies (Baptist and URC respectively). I note their similarities (although their theologies were quite different) because for us nonconformists we don't have many of the like of Fiddes and Gunton.

It doesn't happen often, not even in every generation, but sometimes the church is gifted by God with someone with immense theological wisdom and ability to grasp the historical tradition of the church, and in Paul's case, the skill to relate and connect it all to the issues of and questions of contemporary culture. For us Baptists, at least in the UK, Paul Fiddes is the theological voice, at whose feet we listen.

Today is Professor Paul Fiddes' sixty-fifth birthday. Here's a quote from an essay on Baptist identity:

I have stood with fellow Baptists at a service in Sam Sharpe Square in Montego Bay, Jamaica, a place named in memory of the Baptist deacon and slave who was executed for his protest against the British slave system. I have prayed with fellow Baptists by the side of the Han river in Seoul, Korea, and witnessed several thousand young people being baptized - not in a media spectacle, but each one greeted personally by his or her pastor. I have lectured with fellow Baptists in the University of Timisoare, Romania, near the square where more than fifty young people were killed in the revolution of 1989 as they demonstrated for freedom, shouting 'God exists'. I have talked with Portuguese Baptists in Lisbon, where the great earthquake of 1755 is still remembered as the event which shook people's faith in a good creator, and destroyed a whole system of natural theology. I have shared in a Sunday morning service in the black township of Tembisa near Johannesburg where the previous night Zulu Inkata terrorists had massacred nearly a hundred people, and I have experienced Zulu and Chosa Baptists worshipping together in acceptance of each other. I have sat with Baptists in Cuba, listening to the way that they understand mission in their neighbourhood, led by a pastor who was serving as a Deputy in the government of Fidel Castro, and suffering rejection by fellow Christians because of this involvement in politics. I have received hospitality from Baptists in Myanmar, and admired the way that their ethnic groups express their faith, and their hopes for a common society, through their different styles of song and dance. Through these experiences, my thinking has been shaped in a way that would not have been possible without a shared identity as Baptists.

Identity, I suggest, is more about identification than about being identical. It is an identification which is not a mere human effort, but is enabled by that identification of God with humanity that we call incarnation ... I want to make clear that my appeal to the act of identifying does not conform the church to the secular model of a voluntary society, though there will always be something intentional about it; nor am I ignoring the truth that we share a common identity as members of the body of Christ through baptism. However, a theology of identification will be bound to envisage visible unity as covenantal at heart, rather than (say) a recovery of any particular structure of episcopal oversight which has precedent in history ... It is not that we share an already-existing identity through establishing a common list of agreed items, but we willingly identify ourselves with others who want to make or keep covenant with us because they catch an echo of their story in us.

('The Question of Identity' in Tracks and Traces: Baptist Identity in Church and Theology, Paternoster, 2003, pp15-16)

Book Review: Tradition and the Baptist Academy

Roger A. Ward and Philip E. Thompson (eds.), Tradition and the Baptist Academy (Paternoster, 2011), xviii + 225pp (with thanks to Paternoster for a review copy)

This is the thirty-first volume in the excellent Studies in Baptist History and Thought Series. This important Baptist series is still alive. This latest volume is a set of essays arising from the 2006 conference of Young Scholars in the Baptist Academy, which is based in the United States and where the scholars who participate do not always seem that young! As its title suggests, the topic of the book is that thorny question (for Baptists anyway) of the role and place of tradition - Philip Thompson comments that 'Baptists have made 'a tradition of rejecting tradition (p.58)! The popular Baptist claim to sola scriptura means historically Baptists have appeared either to have been not that sure about tradition or not that bothered. Mark Medley makes the comment in a footnote that from a study of leading American Baptist theologians, past and present, only two - Grenz and McClendon - 'offer constructive theological reflection on tradition' (p.67n.3). He also makes the comment in a previous essay that his theological education spent as little as five minutes on tradition! (p.48n.7) Here it would be interesting to do a comparison with the British and European experience, which I would contend has not been as suspicious or as indifferent to the place and role of tradition (a recent example study would be Stephen Holmes' Listening to the Past, Paternoster, 2001). This set of essays is focused on offering an argument of why tradition is vital to Baptist churches and theology and the claim that Baptists are part of the historic catholic tradition - that while the early Baptists separated ecclesiologically, they did not, in large part, separate theologically. 

After a 'Preface' by Paul Fiddes, which sets the book partly in the contecxt of the recent BWA-Roman Catholic theological conversations (which we await with interest for the published report) and an 'Introduction' by the editors Ward and Thompson (which feels it could have done with some editing - it refers to a paper by Curtis Freeman, not included in the book), we are offered four good papers by leading North American Baptist theologians. Barry Harvey claims Baptists have 'been caught up in alien disciplinary regimes' that have failed to form us as 'citizens of God's pilgrim city in the way of the cross' (pp.8-9). The answer says Harvey is for Baptists to learn again that we are dissenting Catholics: 'fellow travellers with a host of sisters and brothers in a communal way of life' (p.20) and to escape what he calls the 'authorial void', that is, the stress on the individual and soul competency as made each person an authority unto themselves. He wants to encourage Baptists to see how much they have learn from the the catholic tradition and also what they have to offer other communions (p.27).

E. Glenn Hinson, a Baptist historian (and a former student at Regent's Park College) makes the same argument with Harvey that Baptists need to see themselves as part of a larger Christian tradition and have contribution to make. This is followed by exploring how this might happen in Baptist academies. I think a lot of this is directed at the Southern Baptists. From a UK perspective, there is no where near the suspicision of the wider church. We may not always like the way the Church of England sometimes throws its weight around, but there is denying that many Baptists feel a loss with Rowan Williams retiring at the end of the year.

Philip Thompson explores the relationship between memory and tradition and its impact on Baptist identity. (One conversation partner is Charles Pinches' A Gathering of Memories: Family, Nation and Church, which from this and Hauerwas mentioning it in his recent War and the American Difference, I've ordered). The chapter should be seen as building on his earlier work which explored the 'myth of changelessness' in Recycling the Past or Researching History? In this present chapter, Thompson distinguishes between two ways of considering history. While the first way might be characterised by the present controlling the past, where history becomes fictitious, sentimental - 'creates a world its writers wish for but doesn't exist' (p.61), the second way is more 'genuninely critical', its treats the past as strange and other at the same time as being part of our story (p.63). It is the latter he favours, following Rowan Williams, claim that this is 'good history' compared to the former which is 'bad history'.

The final paper of the four is by Mark Medley (a version can also be found in the journal Pro Ecclesia). After describing tradition as it has been understood by two Catholic theologians, Terrence Tilley and John Thiel, Medley makes his own contribution to the practice of tradition, by arguing for the foundational skills of stewardship, interrogation and invention, which are all required if engagement with, and living out of, the Christian tradition is to be done well. Stewardship is about tradtion being received with 'charity and cherishing its wisdom' (p.83), interrogation asks questions of the tradition and calls us 'to think again about the consensus of the tradition' (p.84) - Medley gives the example of interrogating the Baptist claim to soul competency and indepedence. The last skill, invention, perhaps appears incompatible with the practice of tradition, but Medley argues that if tradition is to be kept alive it must also engage invention - in constructive theology - of course the other skills are necessary here to correct unfaithful inventions. Medley pulls the three skills together around the idea of improvisation, borrowed from the work of Sam Wells.

The later essays explore transubstantiation, a theology of beauty, the Barmen declaration, the work of A. T. Robinson, the Regula Fidei and preaching and Baptist baptismal theology.

This is a strong collection of essays. There are some minor editoral niggles, which probably are the result of the book taking a long time from the original conference to publication. It certainly contributes to the wider renewed interest in tradition from Baptists (see the work of Holmes mentioned above, Steven Harmon, D. H. Williams and others) and provides a positive view of tradition not just as that which is handed down, but that which is alive, that which is inevitable (however we strong we disavow it) and that which when engaged with keeps faithful in the present and to the names Baptist', 'catholic' and 'Christian',

Beyond400: Unlearning (the myth of) Baptist Independence

There is I believe a pervasive sin amongst Baptists that champions individualism and independence.  It has embedded itself deeply into our ordinary theology and practice partly because we live in such an individualistic society. There are two particular Colin Gunton quotes that have lodged themselves into my theological psyche, which I think are helpful in naming this Baptist sin. The first one says this: ‘individualism is a non-relational creed, because it teaches I do not need my neighbour to be myself’.[1] Individualism champions self-sufficiency, it believes we are complete in our selves. So the popular version of Baptist ecclesiology believes in the self-sufficiency of the local church; the local church is complete in itself, any relationships with other churches are a second-step, they are an added extra, perhaps important, but not necessary.  In many ways perhaps our Home Mission grants system encourages this belief. The aim is to be self-sufficient, to be independent of your grant – that’s success.

The second Gunton quote says: ‘[the Spirit] liberates us by bringing us into community: by enabling us to be with and for the brother and sisters whom we do not ourselves choose’.[2] The saving action of the Holy Spirit saves us from individualism and says our being in relationship with others is what is it is to be in Christ. We can only fully be ourselves, we can only be fully what God created humanity to be as persons in relation. This presents us with an understanding of being church that says there is no other way of being a church apart from being a church in relationship with others. The isolated independent local church is without warrant theologically. Gunton also wants to claim that this community we now belong to is not one we might necessarily choose, instead we find ourselves placed into set of relationships with other churches, which sometimes cause us to test the truth of whether the gospel really does reconcile!

A sin named is still not easily left behind, but its recognition means that we know that the gospels summons us into relationship, in which, we discover there is no space for the isolated local church. The gospels sets us free, but this is not a freedom from others, but a freedom for Christ and his church (Rom 6.18, 22).  

---

[1] Colin Gunton, The One, the Three and the Many (Cambridge, 1993)

[2] Colin Gunton, Theology Through the Theologians (T & T Clark, 1996)

The Travail of the Baptist 'Expert'?

Last year saw the publication of an excellent collection of essays on baptist hermeneutics. The book ends with responses from two non-baptists - Brian Brock (Aberdeen) and W. John Lyons (Bristol) In Lyons' reflections he makes the following argument:

Baptist churches, in my view, desperately need to find and offer an alternative to our contemporary culture that is as authentic, as Christo-centric, and as radical, as is possible.

To create such space for this to happen, Baptist churches will need the help of such "experts" as they have to hand, whether such individuals are theologians, biblical scholars, pastors, sages, or even suitable outsiders ("critical friends?"). These people are needed because Baptist churches and their partner denominations must now begin to think about their present day failings and about what must be done to make their communities truly Christ-centred, life-giving, and prophetic. They will need to listen to those who try to facilitate and enhance their church life, however harsh and unreasonable such aid might seem at the time, rather than to those who merely pontificate to them from on high as to what it should be like. They will need to listen to those who will be content to offer critical comments on, even voice outright disagreements with, the community's interpretation of scripture without seeking to smother the life out of such readings with their own prideful or lazy interpretations. Perhaps most tellingly of all, they will have to learn to value such people more, publicly encouraging them to speak freely and often, and submitting to their arguments and conclusions as the community's developing wisdom requires.

....

... Baptist experts, it seems to me, often seemed reticent to speak too strongly about what they see, not because they doubt their views, but rather because they tend to regard their roles as being ones that involve cajoling, persuading, and easing the way and not as ones that involve instruction, command, and assertion. They are wary of being counted with the pontifcators mentioned above. But here is their quandary writ large. Instruction, command, and assertion are exactly what prophets within a community must do at times because that is exactly what prophetic words requires of them.

(William John Lyons, 'In Appreciation of "Reluctant" Prophets' in Helen Dare and Simon Woodman (eds.), The "Plainly Revealed" Word of God? Baptist Hermeneutics in Theory and Practice (Mercer, 2011), pp.299-301)

Lyons makes the argument that we don't listen enough to our "experts" (this is possibly an unfortunate word) and at the same time our "experts" don't speak enough to be heard.

There will be undoubtedly some Baptists who will be hostile to Lyons suggestions that we 'submit' to anything other than Christ and the 'plain' reading of scripture. The title (and content) of the book rightly wants to question whether there is such thing as a 'plain' reading. I would argue that those who claim to hold to a plain reading of scripture are in fact, ultimately submissive to those who claim to present this 'plain' reading, and therefore, it is a naive and false claim that we only submit to Christ and scripture.

I don't think we should be afraid of Lyons use of the word 'submit' here. In the footnote to the sentence that speaks of submitting, Lyons writes 'the kind of submission I have in mind does not involve genuflecting to positions of authority, but rather involves a communal recognition of a certain individual's possession of a prophetic mandate to speak to the churches and a resolve to listen to what that person has to say and to act upon it.'

It would seem to me, having communcal recognised the prophet/expert, and listened to their words, we also practice communal discernment of whether the prophet/expert has preached the gospel. Here the Mennonite practice mentioned in Presence: Giving and Receiving God (which I've just reviewed), would recognise that their remains a need for the community to weigh what they hear.

It seems also important to acknowledge that not every expert is a prophet. Theological or scholarly learning does not make one automatically a prophet.

Steve Holmes (a Baptist expert!?), perhaps offers some caution, that we don't press to hard for the uniqueness of the 'expert' in two articles that argue for 'the clarity and perspicuity of scripture' (see his 2010 BQ article, 'Baptists and the Bible' and his 2011 IJST article 'Kings, Professors, and Ploughboys').

Paul Fiddes (another Baptist expert!?) has also recently presented the case for the Christian scholar in the life of the church. He claims that 'the professional scholar has stood in the place of conflicting discourses, in the market-place of secular culture, and has aimed to connect the Christian faith with other disciplines of knowledge ... From this perspective, the scholar has gudiance to offer the local church in shaping its mission, as it gather to find the mind of Christ together' and 'to assist church members in working out their "everyday theology", in negotiating the demands of Christian discipleship with the ambiguities and pressures of modern society' ('Dual Citizenship in Athens and Jerusalem' in Questions of Identity, p.140)

I have argued previously that we need to pay more attention to and value more deeply the theologians amongst us, to those that we have released to do the work of deep listening to scripture and the church tradition and speak prophetically into the challenges we face. Our problem often is we think anyone and everyone can discern the mind of Christ apart from the 'expert'.

Is their a place for the Baptist theologian and scholar in our life? I hope so. With bold humility we need to be prepared to listen and they need to be prepared to speak. In these days, Lyons is right to say this is 'desperately needed'.

Interview with Simon Woodman and Helen Dare on Baptist Hermeneutics

Today saw my copy of The "Plainly Revealed" Word of God? Baptist Hermeneutics in Theory and Practice edited by Simon Woodman and Helen Dare (Mercer, 2011), 312pp arrive. The book is the result of a 2009 colloquium which saw a group of international Baptist theologians (plus two non-Baptists) gather to discuss and explore what Baptist hermeneutics might look like. This is a unique and important book which deserves wide reading. Get your copy now. Simon and Helen kindly answered a few questions I sent them:

Why a book on Baptist hermeneutics?

Baptists have always been proud to declare our reliance on and commitment to scripture. We love reading scripture, praying through scripture and discerning what God is saying to us. We encourage each other to read it regularly. We insist that public worship includes not only the reading aloud of scripture but also sustained reflection on it through a sermon. Many of us belong to Bible study groups in which we seek to apply God’s word to our daily lives. In addition, we have produced many biblical theologians, who have had major influence on academic and pastoral contexts.

It seemed strange to us, however, that there has been very little intentional reflection on the process by which we interpret scripture in the Baptist community. Do we just read straight off the page or is it more complex than this? What happens when we disagree over the meaning of a particular passage of scripture? Is there anything distinctive about the way in which our particular community reads the Bible? This is the task of ‘hermeneutics’. So we set ourselves the objective of addressing this; primarily thinking of the British context, but also helped by Baptist contributors from the USA and Eastern Europe and two British non Baptists. The book is the result of a colloquium held at the South Wales Baptist College in January 2009, when over three days we presented papers and discussed ‘Baptist Hermeneutics in Theory and Practice’.

What surprised you? Is there such thing as Baptist hermeneutics?

Although we were asking what we thought was an interesting question, which as far as we were aware had not been asked by anyone else, we had no idea whether anyone else would share our concerns. Many have questioned whether there can be such a thing as Baptist hermeneutics because of the diversity represented by Baptists, or because of a reluctance to impose sectarian labels which might further divide the wider church. It quickly became clear that there was a wide range of approaches to Baptist hermeneutics represented, even within the small group that met in 2009. Some reviewed specific instances of Baptists using the Bible. A second group sought to explore the way in which the Bible is used within local churches as communities of Baptists gather to read scripture together. A third group addressed theoretical issues and the final group considered how Baptists might negotiate interpretative diversity. There was, however, a surprising degree of consensus that this was an important issue and that Baptist hermeneutics was most definitely something that existed and demanded further consideration.

We were also a little surprised (not unpleasantly) by the responses of the non Baptist contributors to our project. Both were positive about what Baptists could offer the wider Christian tradition and we were collectively challenged by one who observed the reluctance of such a group to speak prophetically concerning the issues under discussion. So if Baptists are ever to make progress in issues that threaten to divide us, it is essential for us to be self aware with regard to how we read the Bible. This is not just a topic for academics, conferences and books: it is an everyday reality for all Baptists in local churches. The responsibility of those of us who have spent time considering this in detail is to communicate it clearly and accessibly to those with whom we share our Baptist convictions.

What might a Baptist approach to hermeneutics offer other traditions?

What unites us as Baptists reading scripture is the centrality of Christ as the ‘sole and absolute authority’ (as the BUGB Declaration of Principle has it) and a deep commitment to one another in our engagement with scripture. It would be undesirable to make normative statements about the way in which biblical texts should be read by Baptists: we may still disagree over the meaning of texts. We do however have a common heritage that unites us, and with which we might all identify. It is this that may be offered to the wider church for consideration and conversation, This ecumenical engagement may be mutually enriching as the process of considering Baptist hermeneutics continues. We hope that others can learn from us, but also that we will be open to hearing their critique of us.

Where might this conversation go next? Or, what are your hopes for the book?

We hope that the volume represents the start of a conversation within the Baptist family rather than the final word on Baptist hermeneutics. We hope that future reflection on Baptist hermeneutics will represent a wider demographic: despite our best efforts, we (in common with most academic theological conferences) found ourselves with an underrepresentation of women, ethnic diversity, and varied socio-economic backgrounds.

We believe that if we are to maintain loving relationships as we struggle with the challenges of a rapidly changing society, it is crucial for Baptists to devote time to thinking together about how we read scripture: the process is as important as any conclusions we may draw about particular passages. Therefore our greatest hope is that the conversation we have started will make a difference to the life of both local churches and the wider Union. It is as we gather in community to encounter God in scripture that we are shaped and formed. Therefore we shy away from this issue at our peril!

Book Review: Questions of Identity

Anthony R. Cross and Ruth Gouldbourne (eds.), Questions of Identity: Studies in Honour of Brian Haymes (Centre for Baptist History and Heritage Studies Vol. 6; Regent's Park College, 2011), 272pp

This is an excellent set of essays written in honour of the Baptist theologian Brian Haymes. Gathered together are a range of Baptist voices, as well as a Mennonite in the form of Alan Kreider and an Anglican in Chris Rowland.

Here's a flavour of what you can find. John Colwell's essay builds on his contribution to Nigel Wright's FS and further tests the Baptist belief in freedom of conscience. Paul Fiddes historically shows the Baptist involvement in the founding of University College London and explores the role of academic theology in the church. Nigel Wright attempts to build on the atonement debate following Chalk-gate. Sean Winter offers a study of 2 Cor 5.20, which in some ways is a promising taster of a larger piece of work he is doing on 2 Corinthians. Steve Holmes offers some rare, but welcome thoughts on the practice of church meetings - by rare I mean, although Baptists like to moan about church meetings, in recent times they have offered little in the way of constructive contributions to their renewal and their practice.

The collection demonstrates that Baptist theology has come a long way since Haymes short essay on A Question of Identity in 1986. While we don't - and dare say ever will - have the depth of theologians like the Church of England, we do have a number of theologians working on creative, interesting theology, which serves the church, as can be seen in this collection. The question of identity for Baptists will be whether we as churches are willing to listen and engage as we seek to be faithful to the Baptist way of being church. A good place to start would be to read this book, which is a fitting tribute to Brian and his theology.

Anne Phillips on the Faith of Girls

Anne Phillips, co-principal of Northern Baptist College is publishing her recent doctorate in the Ashgate Explorations in Practical, Pastoral and Empircal Theology series:

The Faith of Girls: Children's Spirituality and Transition to Adulthood (Ashgate, August 2011)

Exploring the spirituality and faith of girls on the verge of adolescence, this book presents fresh insights into children's spirituality and their transition to adulthood. Phillips has listened to girls' voices speaking in depth on the themes of self, God, church, and world, and reflected on their experiences and understandings in the light of current psychological, philosophical and sociological thinking, all placed into dialogue with a feminist approach to contemporary theology and bible. Phillips offers 'wombing' as a metaphor for their transition to young adulthood, and suggests strategies faith communities might adopt to companion girls more effectively through the fragility of puberty. This book will appeal to all those exploring areas of youth ministry, pastoral care, Christian education, nurture and childhood studies, psychology and theology.

Contents: Preface; Introduction; Breaking the silence around girls in transition; Methods for learning from girls; Girls in transitional space; Theological reflection 1 - Lucy; Girls in Godspace; Theological reflection 2 - Rosie; Girls in nurturing space; Affirming girls through transition.

Currently it is due out only in hardback, which will put it out of most people's price range, but hopefully it will also eventually find its way into paperback.

 

Brian Haymes honoured with festschrift

The Baptist theologian Brian Haymes was given a festschrift yesterday in recognition of his contribution to Baptist life and theology. The book called Questions of Identity - a signal back to small earlier work - is edited by Anthony R. Cross and Ruth Gouldbourne, two colleagues who together with Brian wrote On Being the Church (Paternoster, 2009). The book will be available here soon and I'm sure will be available at the Baptist Assembly. For more see here from one of the book's contributors, Simon Woodman. The contents of the festschrift are:

‘A Preacher of Integrity’: Brian Haymes—A Brief Profile...............................xi
 
Chapter 1
Turn or Burn!: A Nonviolent Reading of Fire and Burning in the Book of Revelation
Simon Woodman

Chapter 2
Further Reflections on a Sacramental Understanding of Preaching
Michael J. Quicke

Chapter 3
‘Ambassadors for Christ’ (2 Corinthians 5.20): Ministry in the New Creation
Sean F. Winter
 
Chapter 4
Re-Envisioning the Wall of Separation, or One and a Half Cheers for Secularization: Toward and Ecclesial Identity after Christendom
Barry Harvey
 
Chapter 5
‘Bearer of our Sins’: Atonement Theology after Steve Chalke
Nigel G. Wright
 
Chapter 6 
‘Through a glass darkly’: The Further Light Clause in Baptist Thought
Anthony R. Cross
 
Chapter 7
Dual Citizenship in Athens and Jerusalem: The Place of the Christian Scholar in the Life of the Church
Paul S. Fiddes
 
Chapter 8 
A Matter of Conscience: A Quest for Otherness
John E. Colwell

Chapter 9
The Prophet Oded as an Early Good Samaritan
Robert Parkinson
   
Chapter 10
Knowing Together the Mind of Christ: Congregational Government and the Church Meeting
Stephen R. Holmes

Chapter 11
Prophets and Pietists: Differing Faces of Baptist Identity
Faith Bowers
 
Chapter 12
Revisioning Identity: Mennonite Reflections on Narrative
Alan Kreider
 
Chapter 13
Story-telling, Sacraments, and Sexuality
Ruth Gouldbourne
 
Chapter 14
Afterword
Christopher Rowland